


Little Brother

by Nation_Ustria



Series: Green Empathy [2]
Category: Lego Ninjago, The LEGO Ninjago Movie (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Big Brother Kai (Ninjago), Bigotry & Prejudice, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Empath, Empath Lloyd Garmadon, Feels, Found Family, Identity Reveal, Kai's POV, Lloyd Garmadon Angst, Lloyd Garmadon Needs Therapy, Lloyd Garmadon Needs a Hug, No Slash, POV Third Person, Protective Siblings, Sibling Love, Team as Family, Texting, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29645772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nation_Ustria/pseuds/Nation_Ustria
Summary: **Recommendation: read Revealed first**:)Finding out that the person you consider your little brother is also a (supposedly) terrible person that you've been taught to hate for years is a little bit hard to work through—especially when that person is in pain.Revealed Part 2 - Kai's POV
Relationships: Cole & Lloyd Garmadon & Kai & Nya & Jay Walker & Zane, Lloyd Garmadon & Kai
Series: Green Empathy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2178393
Comments: 17
Kudos: 91
Collections: you_haven't_lived_if_you_haven't_read_these_masterpieces





	Little Brother

**Author's Note:**

> This took me way longer to write than I thought it would, so that's fun. This fic is less fluffy than Revealed as I focused on the ninja working through stuffs, so yeah.
> 
> Sorry for any typos, and let me know if anything isn't clear.
> 
> Enjoy!

Kai rolled over, shoving his face in his pillow. When that didn’t help sleep come any faster, he groaned, squinting up at his alarm clock.

3:27 AM.

Just _great_. Kai rolled onto his back, dragging his hands down his face. He just wanted to _sleep_. Unfortunately, that thing that he was trying very hard not to think about wouldn’t shut up in his brain.

Kai sighed, closing his eyes.

_Kai ducked away from the pillow Blue was trying to slam into his head, cackling. The next moment Blue yelped as he slipped on some ice, his arms flying out to balance himself. Kai backed a few steps away, turning his attention to his little sister and the boy Kai had unofficially adopted as his little brother. Green was currently unarmed, breathlessly laughing as he bounced away from a dual-pillow wielding Nya—then he slipped, landing hard on his back. Nya chose that moment to strike, slamming a pillow into Green’s face. Green squeaked like a dog toy, making Kai double over laughing, then rolled away—_

_Blond hair. That was the first thing that Kai registered, but he didn’t understand what he was seeing for a moment. It was only when Green froze that Kai finally processed that Green’s mask had been knocked off, his hood falling back—_

_Revealing a person that Kai_ never _would have expected._

_Green scrambled to his feet, every part of his body language screaming that he’d gone into fight or flight mode. He glanced at them before his instincts tipped one way or the other, though, his eyes big and somehow out of place in the face that Kai was seeing._

Lloyd Garmadon’s _face._

 _“What. The actual—” Kai began, his brain failing to comprehend how the_ son _of_ Lord Garmadon _—the most infamous delinquent in the city—could possibly be his leader, his little brother. It just_ didn’t work _. It wasn’t possible. Just seeing Lloyd Garmadon’s face made Kai react reflexively, disdain, disgust, even hatred rising inside of him—none of which matched how Kai felt about Green in the slightest._

_“You’re—” Blue forced out as Nya stepped back._

_Lloyd Garmadon—Green?—staggered back suddenly, like he’d been punched. Then he was gone, streaking out the door after somehow having snatched his mask._

Kai forced his eyes open, shaking himself out of the memory. He’d gone over it almost a dozen times in the last few hours, and he was still as confused as he’d been when it first happened.

There was _no_ way that Green could be Lloyd Garmadon. It just _didn’t work._

Except somehow, he was.

Kai rolled over for the nth time, except this time he was digging through his blankets, searching for his phone. It took him a few moments to find it, and when he did the brightness was _way_ too high, making him curse as he flinched away. He squinted, turning down the brightness, then blinked at the black rectangle that was hovering in his vision.

Once Kai could actually see his screen, he hesitated. After a moment’s consideration, he opened his texting app—and habitually clicked on the group chat he was on with the other ninja.

Which Green— _Lloyd Garmadon_ —was on.

Kai silently swore, quickly exiting out of the chat. He clicked the button to start a new conversation, carefully adding the others: White, Black, Nya—under the alias of Cyan, of course—and Blue. His heart hurt a little when he skipped over Green, but he shoved the feeling aside. 

**So.**

**Anyone else up?**

The responses came a lot quicker than Kai had thought they would.

**Cyan: Unfortunately**

**Blue: Yeah**

**Black: Ditto Cyan**

**White: I am awake.**

There was a long pause. Kai swore under his breath, biting his lip.

**So, uh.**

**We’ve got to talk about it.**

For a long moment, nothing happened.

And then Kai’s phone exploded with texts.

**Blue: WHAT. IS. HAPPENING????**

**Cyan: How am I even suposed to REACT to this Green’s rejsfdsjhajdkahkjf**

**Blue: SJGSHAJEHFEWERJGSNRG**

**Black: Theirs NO WAY Green coud be him it doesnt’ even WORK**

**Cyan: Green@s our innocent sunshine and Loyd is a hajfjaeadf I don’t even know but he’d not good!!!n**

**Black: Like HOQ even**

**Blue: SFJGAEJAFDCKJWHSRFJGHNSHFXNBVSKSJFKAJFDWEJRTF**

**Black: *how**

**Cyan: Lloyd garmadon is a bully and destructive and I can’t even**

**Blue: LDJRSKFSJWRIVNMSMCVRSIONFVSMFVJHOEDCVWAWLEWERFNVESDNFKVSEIRDFJVCISERWNDSF**

**Black: Okay blue enough keyboard smash**

Kai grimaced. Here was the freak out that probably should have happened back at the warehouse but somehow hadn’t, as they had just gone their separate ways in stunned silence. 

The texts summed up what was going through Kai’s head pretty well.

At least, they did until White finally chimed in.

**White: Actually, Lloyd Garmadon may not be destructive.**

Kai frowned. That didn’t fit with everything he’d heard.

**?**

**Black: ???**

**Cyan: What? That doesn’t make sense**

**Blue: Wdym?!??!**

There was half a second’s pause, and then White’s insanely long text came through, making Kai raise his eyebrows. The dude must’ve copy-pasted, because there was no way that he’d just typed this all out.

**White: I have spent the last five hours going through public records and incident reports, and there are exactly zero incidents of vandalism, general destruction or otherwise that was caused by Lloyd Garmadon. Over 92% of the arrestees—usually minors—in such incidents blamed Lloyd Garmadon for their actions, but there has never been any actual evidence that he was even within proximity of each crime committed.**

Kai blinked. Vandalism was one of the things that Lloyd Garmadon was most infamous for, just below the fact that he was Lord Garmadon’s son and above his reputation for being a bully. And apparently he’d never done any?

 _Of course not—Green never would,_ part of Kai’s mind whispered.

**Blue: What about his school records?**

**Cyan: Didn’t he get suspended for breaking someones hand?**

**White: I do not know. School records are not accessible to the public.**

Kai remembered when that had happened. Lloyd Garmadon had gotten suspended for two weeks, which the school had celebrated. There’d even been a petition that’d gone around to get him expelled, people listing all of the horrible things that he’d done to them. It hadn’t worked, obviously.

**Blue: We could hack the school files, but someone would have to get inside the building.**

**Black: Itd be easiest to do that during school hours**

Kai’s mind produced a question that made him freeze. He hesitated, then typed in into the chat.

**Could everything be made up?**

**Cyan: What?**

**Blue: What**

**Black: ?**

**White: In what manner do you mean?**

**About Lloyd.**

**Could everything be fake?**

**Blue: How**

**Black: People can’t make up that much stuff**

**White: That is highly improbable.**

**Black: Can they?**

**Cyan: Even if some stuff is fake, there had to be *some* basis for it all**

Kai huffed out a breath. Normally, he’d agree with Nya, but—

**We’re talking about /Green/ here, guys.**

Silence. 

After two full minutes—Kai kept track—another text came through.

**Cyan: ******

**White: Language.**

**Cyan: You cant even see it, white. And that’s not what’s important right now.**

**Blue: . . . There’s still the fact that Lloyd—or Green, I guess got suspended. Something happened.**

**Blue: But then again bullies can definitely make it seem like they were the victim**

**White: But the broken hand?**

**I’ve broken my hand by accidentally punching a cupboard, it’s not that hard.**

**Blue: Wait you what**

**Cyan: Focus**

**Black: Guys.**

**Blue: ?**

**Black: Lloyd Garmadon is Green**

**White: We’ve established that.**

**Black: But the days right after lord Garmadon attacks**

Kai’s heart stopped when he realized what Black was saying.

Oh, no.

No wonder—

Kai swore, pressing a hand to his mouth. How did Green— _Lloyd_ —deal with it? No wonder he was always so much worse.

Oh, FSM.

**Blue: ???**

**Cyan: Explain**

**White: Clarification?**

Kai swallowed dryly against the bile pressing up his throat, typing quickly.

**Empath, guys. He’s an empath—and the most hated person in the city.**

There were several moments of silence.

**Blue: Well ****.**

**White: Oh dear.**

**Cyan: No wonder he’s always so bad on those days . . .**

Days when Green would already be at the warehouse by the time anyone else got there, his body tight with pain. Days when he’d force his words out with fake cheerfulness, at least until Sensei Wu had finally gotten him to share how, exactly, his power worked, and why he’d hover near them until the pain seemingly vanished of its own accord—which sometimes took hours at the beginning. The full explanation had taken almost an hour, and they’d peppered Green with questions for a week afterwards. By now they were used to it, used to playing cards or video games and just having fun together so Green could gather the positivity, gradually joining the fun as his pain faded. Once they’d found out that physical contact only helped speed up the process—something Green had somehow avoided mentioning because of some weird idea that it wasn’t normal to ever touch people—they’d added in shoulder bumps and hugs and piling onto to couch to watch comedy routines so that there wasn’t anywhere to sit without being squashed against someone—usually multiple someones. Typically it’d take Green around fifteen, maybe twenty minutes for his usual pain level—one that wasn’t visible in his body language—to fade completely, though it dropped down to only a handful of minutes if they did the whole squash-onto-the-couch thing. Bad days, though, which usually happened if there was a school day after an attack, could take Green over an hour to recover from.

Kai had always thought that that pattern—bad days after attacks—was because of the anger and fear and grief caused by the attack that Green would collect second hand from school. He’d thought that the reason Green was _always_ in pain after school, even if he could brush it off, was because school sucked and that was somehow reflected in the emotions of Green’s peers.

Turns out that it was actually because everyone hated him.

 _“Hate’s the worst one,”_ Green had said once, back when Kai and the others had been tormenting him with questions. He’d spoken softly, almost hesitantly, like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to share. _“Anger or sadness or fear—they don’t feel nice, but I have to gather a lot of them before they actually start to hurt. Hate, though—even the smallest amount hurts right from the start. Starting here.”_ He briefly touched his fingers to the center of his chest. _“It just gets worse the more I gather. It’s when I gather so much that it starts to spread, though—that’s . . . that’s when it’s really bad. Because it’s shut down my own emotions at that point.”_

Kai swore again, running his fingers through his hair. How had he never put it together? Well, maybe not that Green was actually Lloyd freaking Garmadon, but at the very least that there was something else going on? Green had never indicated anything, always saying that everything was normal—

That’s when it hit Kai that Green—Lloyd had a very different definition of normal than everyone else. ‘Normal’ was having everyone who knew who he was hate him 24/7.

No wonder he hadn’t realized that it was normal to be touched. No one would get within ten feet of him if they could help it.

. . . including Kai himself.

Guilt filled Kai’s stomach with lead.

A bunch of texts had come through while Kai had been thinking, so he scrolled through them.

**Black: The entire city hates him for what his dad does**

**Blue: But that’s not fair, he’s fighting *against* Lord Garmadon!!**

**White: But only we know that.**

**Cyan: And we didn’t before . . .**

**Blue: . . .**

**Black: . . . how did we even end up hating him anyways? I mean, if the stories are all lies—and they kinda look it, I mean most of them are absurd—and Ive never actually interacted with him, how did we . . . ?**

**Cyan: I wanna throw up**

**Blue: The meme.**

**White: Meme?**

**Black: Which one.**

**Blue: The one that started when we were like nine? You know, everyone just started saying “thanks, Lloyd” whenever bad things happened.**

**Cyan: Ditto Black**

**Cyan: Oh, that.**

**Black: I didnt even know who ‘Lloyd’ was**

**Blue: Neither did I.**

**White: Nor I.**

**Cyan: Same**

**Blue: But we all used it.**

**White: Which meant that we all started subconsciously blaming Lloyd for out problems.**

**White: *our**

**Blue: *gasp* White made a typo**

**White: Focus, Blue.**

**Cyan: Add in rumours of him doing bad things and hurting people . . .**

**Black: . . . and youve got the perfect scapegoat for your problems**

**Blue: Especially since he’s connected to Lord Garmadon.**

**Cyan: Is he actually bad, tho?**

**Black: This is Green we’re talking about**

**White: He did get suspended.**

**Blue: That doesn’t mean anything. It probably was bogus.**

**Cyan: I want to trust Green, but some people do have issues . . . :(**

**Blue: All we’ve got to do is look at the school files.**

**White: I can access them on Monday.**

**Black: But that’s not for three days, what do we do until then?**

That was where it ended. Kai waited for another text to pop up, but apparently everyone had gone silent again.

It made sense. What _did_ they do?

After several more moments, another text came through.

**Black: . . . does anyone know where he lives?**

That got a response.

**Cyan: No**

**Blue: No.**

**No.**

**White: . . . I could find out.**

**Blue: Would that help, though? He was really freaked, and if we haven’t figured out this ‘we don’t know if we trust him 100%’ thing he’s going to feel it.**

**Black: I dont think thats a good idea**

**We can’t just abandon him, though.**

**Cyan: What Red said.**

**Blue: But unless we’ve resolved this we can’t get within a dozen feet of him.**

**White: Agreed.**

**Cyan: . . . we could text him?**

**Black: And say what?**

Silence again. Kai tried to think of an answer, but he couldn’t. Not a single thing that wouldn’t end up hurting Green— _Lloyd_ even further came to mind. 

**Blue: . . . so we wait until we get the files on Monday.**

**Cyan: Why can’t we get them earlier?**

**White: With the increased security that has been implemented over the last few years, getting into the building, hacking into the system, and getting out undetected while the building isn’t in use only has a 5.7% chance of success.**

**Black: Weve gotten caught before, it wasn’t that bad**

**Cyan: ^^^**

**Blue: But it’s not gonna look good for Lloyd when the police realize we’re going through his files.**

**Cyan: Crap, I didn’t think of that.**

**So we wait for Monday?**

**White: That seems like the best course of action.**

**Black: Yeah**

**. . . I don’t like leaving Lloyd alone for so long.**

**Blue: We don’t have a choice.**

**Cyan: We’ll just have to keep an eye on him. As soon as we know the truth, we’ll act.**

**Blue: Wait wait wait wait wait what if there’s an attack before then? We’re keeping our distance and Lloyd’s spooked.**

**We handle it. If Lloyd shows up, we act like nothing’s changed. If he doesn’t, Black takes the lead with White on second just like we’ve planned for.**

**Cyan: . . . Will that work?**

**Blue: Do we have a choice?**

With that, the chat fell silent. It was pretty obvious that the conversation was over, but Kai kept staring at the screen for a few more minutes, just in case.

“Kai?”

Kai jumped, swearing and fumbling his phone. After a moment he gave up on it and sat up, turning to his bedroom door.

Nya was standing in the doorway, hugging her bare arms as she bit her lip. Despite her red pajama bottoms and tank top, it was obvious that she also hadn’t gotten any sleep before they’d started texting.

Kai scootched back on his bed, crossing his legs to give Nya space as she crawled onto the end. She grabbed the blanket that Kai kept at the end of the bed for her, wrapping it around herself like a cape.

They sat there in silence for a few moments, the weight of the situation they were both in pressing down on them. 

“Do you think . . . that he’ll be alright?” Kai finally asked. Guilt is still laying heavy in his gut as anxiety grips his lungs. This is his _little brother_. Green— _Lloyd_ is strong, but he’d always struggled with his powers, and now he was going to be alone . . . 

Kai’s protective instinct had kicked in full force, and Kai had to sternly remind himself that going to Lloyd now could just make things worse for him.

“I don’t know,” Nya said quietly. “I hope so.”

That wasn’t very comforting. Kai rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to ignore how his chest tightened even more.

*****

Kai spent the entire weekend worrying about Lloyd. It got to the point that Dad let him out of working in the forge—probably because he’d almost grabbed red-hot iron with his bare hands. It wouldn’t have burned him, being the Master of Fire, but Dad didn’t know that and was more than a little concerned. So Kai spent the rest of his seeming eternity of free time either training at the warehouse or patrolling the city. White had stopped by Lloyd’s place a few times—observing from a distance, of course—to make sure that he was relatively okay, and apparently he was. The reports didn’t do much to stop Kai from worrying, though, especially since White wouldn’t give him Lloyd’s address. It was probably smart of him not to, but still.

For the first time in Kai’s life, Monday couldn’t come fast enough. 

Also for the first time in Kai’s life, he actually got to school early of his own accord. He didn’t actually _need_ to, per se—White was the one retrieving the files—but there was no way that he wasn’t going to be keeping as close of an eye as possible on his little brother.

Actually seeing Lloyd caused a second bout of mental whiplash. Even though Kai had come to terms with the fact that Green was Lloyd Garmadon, actually _seeing_ Lloyd Garmadon knowing that he was Green was _really_ weird. Because initially, Kai couldn’t tell that it was Green. The blond hair, the casual clothes that were actually pretty similar to Kai’s own, but most of all the way other people reacted to him—parting out of his way like he had the plague, expressions of disgust and hatred on their faces.

Kai’s heart twisted with the knowledge that less than a week ago, he’d done the same thing.

Kai shook the general impressions away, focusing on Lloyd. 

And Kai’s heart broke.

Lloyd was obviously in pain—in a _lot_ of pain. His entire body was tense, his arms folded tightly against his chest and his movements stiff. His expression was pinched, but also neutral in a way that only someone with a lot of practice could manage. His gaze was fixed on the floor in front of him, but the slightly glassy look of his eyes told Kai that he wasn’t really seeing it.

And if the nasty glares half of the people on the hallway kept sending him were to go by, Lloyd was only getting worse.

It took every ounce of self-control Kai had to not rush to him and steal him away, to take him somewhere that wouldn’t hurt him. And even as Kai held himself back, he was mentally debating whether or not it was worth waiting. There was no way that Lloyd could be faking being who Kai knew him to be. 

Kai gave in, stepping towards Lloyd as he passed—

And accidentally made eye contact with someone across the hallway. The guy had curly, reddish hair and a book bag slung over his electric blue jacket. His eyes widened slightly, something—recognition?—flashing across his face. His gaze flicked to Lloyd, then back to Kai, and then his lips pressed together as he subtly shook his head.

It was Blue, Kai realized with a start. And he was warning Kai off.

Kai turned away, scowling. He watched Lloyd until he vanished around the corner, then started making his way to his first class as the one-minute warning bell rang. 

Halfway there, his pocket buzzed. Kai pulled out his phone, glancing at the screen. It was from Blue.

**Approaching him will spook him, no matter what you’re feeling. Don’t make things worse.**

Kai glared at his phone, pretending that it was Blue’s face. Which was a little weird, actually, having a face for him.

Everything about the last few days had been weird.

Kai’s phone buzzed again.

**. . . If it’s any consolation, I wish I could make my doubts go away like you can.**

Kai unlocked his phone.

**He’s our little brother, not some jerk.**

**I know, I know, it’s just . . . even the nicest people can have a dark side.**

**I just need to make sure. For both me and him.**

Kai sighed. He slipped his phone back into his pocket, walking into class just as the bell rang.

As it turned out, Kai actually shared several classes with Lloyd. Somewhere in his head he’d already known that, but he hadn’t actually thought about it until he’d spotted Lloyd sitting on the other side of his second period class, staring blankly at his desk. Lloyd didn’t flinch when balled up papers and the occasional eraser bounced off of him, even when one hit his cheek.

Kai growled under his breath, burying his face in his arms so he wouldn’t be quite so hyperaware of Lloyd being tortured. Anger at his peers—FSM, at _society_ simmered under his skin, and it took all of his self-discipline to not set every paper in the classroom on fire.

Kai tailed Lloyd to lunch, keeping his distance. Watching his little brother collapse at his table on the corner—far, far away from everyone else—both hurt and was something of a relief, because it meant that Lloyd was far enough away from everyone that he wasn’t gathering as much of their hate. 

It only took a few more seconds of Kai watching to realize that Lloyd had more or less passed out, his body relaxing fractionally.

Kai swore under his breath, but Lloyd wasn’t in any medical danger from his power so Kai forced himself to leave him be. He went through the lunch line, getting the typical five-mouthfuls-of-rubbery-food school lunch, then sat at his usual table with the people that Kai didn’t really care about. Kai ate slowly, watching Lloyd in his peripherals.

After about ten minutes, Kai realized that someone else at the table was watching Lloyd. He was farther down, near the wall and facing away from Lloyd—he wasn’t really part of the “group” that filled the rest of the table, just a lone wolf who’d claimed his spot at the beginning of the school year. He wore headphones half the time and was usually sketching in some art book or other, which was what tipped Kai off—he was on his phone instead, which wouldn’t have been odd if he weren’t holding it way higher than anyone would ever need to hold a phone, especially for so long. The angle did, however, make it easier for him to see Lloyd if he turned on his front camera. 

Kai not-so-subtly looked at the guy, studying him. It took Kai longer than it should have to put it together—the guy was wearing a pretty loose jacket that hid his build, unlike the gi Kai was used to seeing him in.

It was Black.

Kai huffed out a startled breath, looking away. Seriously, had they _all_ gone to the same school the entire time?

Well, he hadn’t spotted White, yet.

Kai checked on Lloyd again, then double checked when something seemed different. Lloyd himself was fine, but—oh, FSM. His backpack was gone.

Kai scanned the cafeteria. When he didn’t see anyone with an extra green backpack, he swore.

“Problem?” the random person sitting across from him asked.

Kai wordlessly shook his head.

Black had looked up, and before he could return to his attention to his phone Kai caught his gaze. Black raised an eyebrow, questioning, and Kai nodded in Lloyd’s direction. Black glanced over his shoulder, searching, and then his expression darkened. When he looked back at Kai, though, he looked confused—probably because Kai was still a stranger to him.

Kai pointedly tugged on the sleeve of his red jacket.

Black blinked, his eyebrows furrowing. Then he turned back to his phone.

Kai was confused at the reaction until his pocket buzzed. He checked on Lloyd again as he pulled out his phone, unlocking it without looking before glancing down.

**Red?**

Kai smirked. 

**Hey**

He looked back up at Black, still smirking, who glanced up at him a second later. Black stared at him for a long moment, then started typing again.

**Seriously weve gone to the same school the entire time???**

**Three of us???**

**Hang on, four, if you’re here then cyans here too**

**Yup. And five, actually.**

**?!? You’ve got to be kidding**

**Nah Blue and I identified each other before first period.**

**And White could be here too.**

**fbdjshsjdnd**

**I thought Blue was the key smasher?**

**Too many surprises are happening**

**Jump scares, more like.**

**Sure**

**. . . How is your hair that spiky. You look like a hedgehog.**

Kai snapped his head up to glare at Black, who was smirking at him.

**My hair is fabulous, thank you very much.**

**Ill only agree to that if cyan does too**

**Hedgehog**

**Excuse you which of us is dressed like an emo reject.**

**I am NOT**

**Mmmmm yeah you are.**

He wasn’t, really, but Kai couldn’t resist.

**> :l**

The intercom came on, but Kai couldn’t understand whatever it was saying over the noise of the cafeteria.

Another text popped up, but it was from Nya, not from Black.

**So you, me, and two guys named Cole Brooksomething and jaywalker just got called down to the office. Please tell me you didn’t do anything stupid.**

**Uh, not that I’m aware of.**

**KAI**

**I’m being serious, Nya.**

Kai paused as he got a hunch. He glanced up at Black, who was looking at him curiously.

Kai checked on Lloyd—he was still out—then switched to his chat with Black.

**You wouldn’t happen to be a Cole or a Jay, would you?**

**Uh, yeah. Why?**

That pretty much confirmed it.

**White just called all of us down to the office.**

**. . . Youve gotten be kidding me**

***gotta**

**Nope.**

Kai pocketed his phone and shoved his tray into the center of the table—the universal sign that anyone could take it on the off chance they wanted to—and stood, swinging his backpack over his shoulder. Black was doing the same.

Kai hesitated before leaving the lunchroom, glancing at Lloyd. Kai really didn’t want to leave him so vulnerable—

“C’mon,” Black said softly, bumping into his shoulder. “The sooner we get this done the sooner we can help him.”

“He shouldn’t have to be alone,” Kai snapped back, harsher than he’d meant to. 

Black took it in stride, just as he always did. “I agree, but he’s going to have to be for just a little bit longer.” He was trying to speak evenly, but Kai didn’t miss the way that his voice hitched slightly, or how his gaze stayed on Lloyd longer than it should have as he turned away. Kai quickly scanned the rest of Black’s posture and realized that he was just as upset about it as Kai was.

“You know that it’s a little freaky that you can do that, right?” Black said, leading them into the hallway.

Kai rolled his eyes. “It’s not like it’s complicated.”

“Witch.”

“Says the guy who can turn the ground into _quicksand_.”

They kept a string of gentle banter running until they reached the front office. Nya was already there, staring into space at the nearest wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Earth to Nya,” Kai called.

Nya blinked, straightening. She turned, tilting her head as she scanned Black.

Black glanced around the room—the secretaries were missing, as per usual—before asking, “Cyan?”

Nya startled. “Uh, yeah?”

“He’s Black,” Kai explained flatly.

“Thanks,” Black shot back, just as flatly.

Nya blinked at them. “ _Seriously?_ How many of us go here?”

“All of us, I think,” Kai said. 

“All of us what now?” someone asked as they entered the office behind Kai. Kai glanced over his shoulder—yep, that was Blue.

“Lemme guess,” Nya said dryly. “Blue?”

“Sorry?” Blue choked out. “I—uh—”

“Relax, motormouth,” Black said, stepping back so he could see all of them better. Kai did the same in the opposite direction, forming a sorta circle.

Blue stared at Black, then glanced at Kai and Nya. “Hold on, you’re . . . which means . . . Okay, what the actual—”

“Language,” White chided, stepping out from the hallway that led back into the offices. It was obviously him—he even _looked_ the part.

Some adult—an admin?—had come with White, and she looked over them with visible skepticism. “This is them?”

“Hey!” Blue protested.

Kai had to keep himself from rolling his eyes. “It’s us,” he added, despite not know which "us" he was claiming to be.

The admin lady pressed her lips together, glancing at White. White just looked down at her innocently—White was on the taller end of the scale, while the lady was short—until she seemed to make up her mind.

“Right,” the lady said, sighing. “This way.”

She led them through the back hallways, during which time none of them dared say a thing. She led them to a small room lined with low-quality computer monitors, a desk and a relatively old computer sitting in the center. Each screen showed live security feeds—it was a bit unsettling, actually, how many places they covered. 

“Only he gets to touch the computer,” the admin lady said, nodding at White.

“Of course,” Nya said smoothly.

The lady squinted at them, then left the room, vanishing down the hallway.

“Okay,” Blue started, turning to White. “What—”

“I found what we needed,” White explained. “It was simpler to just get you to come see than to try to make a copy.”

Three seconds later they were all crowding around the computer, White being the person actually sitting in the chair.

“Here,” White said, pulling up two different windows and setting them side-by-side. “On the left are some of the incident reports, and on the right is Lloyd Garmadon’s school file.”

The room fell silent as they all read, comparing. Kai had only finished skimming one of the incident reports—it detailed how Lloyd had allegedly shoved a girl into icy snow, causing lacerations and a concussion—when Blue sucked in a sharp breath.

“They don’t match,” Blue said.

“What do you mean?” Black asked.

“Here,” White said, deftly highlighting several sections from both sets of files. “The incidents that are logged in Lloyd’s file—which is only a small fraction of them—are vaguely worded and don’t align with the incident reports.”

“How does that even work?” Nya asked.

“Because the reported incidents are fake,” Kai realized, bile forcing its way up his throat. 

“Most of them, anyways,” White corrected grimly. “And those that are real have been twisted.” White pulled up several video clips, arranging them in a grid. None of them had any audio, but each one showed one of the incidents—either Lloyd was nowhere to be seen, he was too far away to have had any influence on the victim, or he was the victim himself.

Kai’s heart sank. Even though this was what they’d been hoping for, Kai hated it—because in more than a few of the video clips that cycled through, Lloyd—Kai’s _little brother_ —was being slammed into lockers and walls, having things thrown at him and having his backpack stolen over and over—

And _getting beat up_.

They watched in horror for several minutes until Nya finally burst out, “ _Why doesn’t he fight back?_ ”

“He can’t,” Blue said, his voice strangled. “He gets in trouble even when he’s doing _nothing_.”

White noddedly soberly, dismissing the clips before pulling up a new one. “This is the incident that got Lloyd suspended.”

Lloyd was walking down the hallway, probably by the library as the walls were brick instead of lined with lockers. He had his head down as was moving quickly—and then someone launched themself into the frame, swinging at Lloyd from behind. Lloyd ducked out of the way, surprise flashing across his face before he was sprinting out of the frame.

And Lloyd’s attacker, his target having moved, ended up punching the wall. They crumpled to the ground, howling and gripping the wrist of their injured hand.

The clip ended and there was a stunned moment of silence.

“How’d Lloyd get suspended for _that?!_ ” Black exclaimed furiously.

“He moved in such a way that another student was hurt,” White answered flatly.

“What, was he _supposed_ to let him punch him?!” Nya cried in outrage.

“Right, I’ve seen enough,” Blue growled, straightening. His expression was the same as how Kai felt—just barely containing anger. Which was why Kai wasn’t saying anything, as some of the papers on the desk had started to smolder. Kai gritted his teeth, focusing on keeping the fire inside of him, his fingernails digging into his palms.

Blue started for the door, but Black caught his shoulder, making him spin back.

“What?” Blue snapped.

“Where’re you going?” Black asked.

“I’m going to get our little brother _away_ from here,” Blue growled.

“I’ll second that,” Kai bit out. 

“Me too,” Nya said, stepping towards the door.

White stood. “It may not be wise to create a sce—” He froze, alarm flickering across his face. 

Kai tensed, scanning the tiny room for a threat. He didn’t see anything.

“White?” Blue asked after a moment. He’d fallen into a basic fighting stance—as had the rest of them. Which was kind of weird to see, what with them all in normal clothes.

White shook his head. “Apologies . . . one moment.” He pulled out his phone, hurriedly tapping.

Then he swore.

“White!” the rest of them exclaimed in surprise.

White didn’t even bother rolling his eyes, just turned his phone towards them with a grim expression. “There’s an attack in progress.”

They muttered out various curses, Nya taking White’s phone to read the details. “Balvard Street . . . that’s in the warehouse district.”

“On the other side of the city,” Black added flatly.

“Which is probably why there aren’t any alarms going off here,” Blue grumbled, folding his arms.

Kai scowled. Lord Garmadon literally could _not_ have worse timing. “So, what do we do?”

“We shouldn’t leave Lloyd,” Blue insisted.

“We can’t exactly bring him with us,” Black said flatly, raising his eyebrows. “He’s not in any condition to fight.”

“So we split,” Kai suggested, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. “Me and Blue stay here while the rest of you deal with the attack.”

“I wouldn’t advise that course of action,” White said.

“Why not?” Blue snapped.

“Because this is going to need all of us,” Nya said grimly, looking up from the phone. “Even missing Lloyd is going to make things hard—this attack is _big_.”

Kai swore. “Right. Fine, we deal with this attack, and then we help Lloyd. Capisce?” It wasn’t what Kai wanted to do, but they really didn’t have a choice, did they?

Unhappy murmurs of assent came from the others.

“Right,” Blue said, punching one fist into his other hand. “Let’s go kick some—”

“ _Language_.”

“You literally _just_ swore, White!”

*****

Unfortunately, dealing with the attack took the rest of the day, the entire night, and a good chunk of the early morning. They finally disarmed enough of the goons—who were using _actual rifles_ —to summon the police around eight in the morning. 

It was only because of half-hour naps taken when there was the occasional lull of battle—Lord Garmadon’s goons would somehow vanish into the warehouses and then take their sweet time before emerging—that Kai and the others weren’t completely dead on their feet. If Kai weren’t so worried about Lloyd, he _definitely_ would have gone straight home and crashed in bed, but as it was, he got to go back to school. The temptation to just find Lloyd and kidnap him was strong, but he and the others had begrudgingly agreed to wait until lunch so that they wouldn’t cause Lloyd any trouble.

Kai almost changed his mind when he saw Lloyd in their third period—Kai’s first period of the day, having missed the first two—class. The kid was so tense that it seemed like a single touch would make him fall apart, his face so blank that it looked like a plastic mask. His eyes, though—his eyes were the worst, because they were simultaneously full of more pain than Kai could’ve ever imagined and so far away that they seemed like solid glass.

People were still shooting Lloyd glares, so Kai made a fool of himself throughout the class to draw everyone’s attention to him instead. It wasn’t that hard to do, but by the end of the period the teacher that Kai still didn’t know the name of was furious with him. She called him up to her desk to scold him when the bell rang, keeping him from following Lloyd. Unlike he usually would, Kai didn’t put up a fight, just bobbed his head and tried to look sufficiently humbled. The sooner she let him go, the better.

Thankfully, the teacher ran out of words pretty quickly, so after barely a minute Kai was darting through the halls, head swiveling to find the familiar blond and green.

All of Kai’s protective instincts activated when he found him, because some _jerk_ had just slammed him against a locker.

“Leave him alone,” Kai snarled as soon as he got close enough for the meathead to hear him. 

The jerk turned to Kai incredulously. Lloyd sagged slightly, but Kai noticed that his face was pinched differently than it had been earlier—he looked like he was going to throw up.

“I’m sorry?” The jerk gripping Lloyd said, looking like he’d just been told that the sky wasn’t actually blue.

Kai glared at him. “You heard me. _Back off_.”

The jerk—Chen, his name might be? Kai recognized him as one of the cheerleaders—just raised his eyebrows in disbelief. 

“Last warning,” Kai growled.

Chen started to _laugh_.

With that, Kai’s temper finally snapped, and before he could register what he was doing he was punching the jerk in the face. The hit landed solidly. Chen reeled away from Lloyd as shocked gasps sounded around them, but Kai didn’t care what happened to him—he was too busy grabbing his little brother, hauling him up by the arm and dragging him out of the school.

Kai didn’t stop moving—or seething—until they’d reached the far end of the bleachers around the football field, stepping a few rows up. Lloyd followed with surprising grace for someone in agony. 

Kai huffed out an angry breath, then shoved aside his temper in favor of his concern for Lloyd. He turned to look at his little brother, loosening his grip on his arm but not pulling away.

Lloyd was swaying slightly, his eyes closed. He was still visibly in pain, every part of his body tense—except for his expression, which had relaxed slightly.

Kai bit his lip, guiding Lloyd to sit on the bench—and yelped when Lloyd practically collapsed instead, dropping down next to him to hold him upright. Once Kai was sure that Lloyd wasn’t going to fall over, he adjusted his grip to Lloyd’s shoulder, turning to sit next to him.

“Hey, green bean,” Kai said softly. When Lloyd didn't react, Kai’s throat closed up. This was _his_ fault, his and the others’—why had they even cared who was behind the mask? They _knew_ Green. They should’ve trusted him, should have _been_ there for him—

Lloyd tensed, leaning away from Kai.

Right. Empath. Kai was only hurting him _more_ by wallowing, why hadn’t he realized—

Nope. Shut up. Focus on Lloyd.

Way back when, Lloyd had said that the emotion that felt best when he collected it was love—familial, romantic or otherwise. Apparently there was a distinction between emotions like concern—which Kai was definitely feeling right now—and affection, which were “subcategories” or some other, and love itself. Kai needed to figure out what that distinction was, because right now Lloyd needed all of the love he could get.

He had for a long time.

Kai lifted his hand from Lloyd’s shoulder—the way Lloyd whined made Kai’s heart hurt, but Kai shoved that aside so Lloyd wouldn’t feel it—and then shifted so that he could wrap his arms around his little brother, pulling him into his lap. 

Lloyd’s reaction was instant. He relaxed, sagging against Kai’s chest and burying his face in Kai’s jacket. He started breathing deeper and slower—it wasn’t where it should be, just he was still more tense than he should be, but it was definitely a start. 

Kai held his little brother close. After a few seconds of thinking, Kai closed his eyes, silently listing the things about Lloyd that he loved.

How he pretended to be too responsible for candy but actually loved anything sugar.

How his laugh was always infectious, the lightest and brightest thing Kai had ever heard.

The way he could drive Kai nuts like any younger sibling should.

How he could capture the most amazing pictures with his camera and would leave printouts of pictures around the base for them.

How clever he could be, almost always the victor in board and card games.

How strong he was, as both a leader and a person.

How he’d quietly do little things to cheer one of them up if they had an off day.

How he went all soft and babbly around animals, especially baby ones.

The way he hated all nuts but almonds, and would pick them and the m&m’s out of trail mix and leave everything else.

They way he loved patrolling the city at night, and would stop on rooftops to stare at the lights of the city.

The way that he knew every secret and bonus of every video game they’d collected.

How he loved to watch sunsets.

On and on and on. Kai paid close attention to what love felt like—it was warm, like his fire, but steady in a way that his fire wasn’t. Kai focused on maintaining that feeling, going through his list as he held his little brother, pausing only once to shoot off a quick text to the others that explained what was going on. 

They sat there for a while, Lloyd slowly relaxing further and further.

And then Lloyd started crying.

It was somewhat sudden—a single, broken cry burst out of him like it had been forced out, and then Lloyd was sobbing, his entire body shaking violently in Kai’s arms. The sobs were painful to listen to, because all of Lloyd’s pain and fear and loneliness was audible in them—and there was _so much_ of it.

Kai shoved the way his chest was aching for his little brother away, focusing on the good memories, on his love. 

Eventually, Lloyd’s crying quieted a bit, hitching, shaking gasps replacing the sobs.

“Hey there,” Kai said softly, gently hugging Lloyd a bit tighter. “I’ve got you. I’m here.”

Another choked breath, and then—

“Red?”

He’d asked the question like he thought he was hallucinating, confusion twisting the name even more than his crying did. 

“Yeah,” Kai answered. “It’s me.”

“But—” Lloyd burst out, “ _Why?_ ”

“Why?” Kai echoed back, confused.

“You—you’re supposed to—to hate me,” Lloyd forced out, his voice thick.

Supposed to hate him? _Supposed_ —

Oh FSM, _Lloyd_.

He _really_ thought that?

If Kai’s heart had only been broken for him before, it was thoroughly shattered now.

Kai hugged Lloyd tighter, trying to make sure that the love he was feeling for him was as strong as possible. 

“No, Lloyd, never—” Kai cut himself off, unsure of what words he was trying to use. He took a deep breath. “That’s _wrong_.”

“What’s wrong?” Nya asked softly, making their way up to them. Kai had spotted her walking across the field earlier, but he hadn’t paid much attention to her, choosing to focus on Lloyd.

Kai looked up at her. “He thinks he’s supposed to be hated,” he answered softly. 

Nya’s already worried expression crumpled. “Oh, Lloyd . . .”

Lloyd started crying harder, pressing his face into Kai’s chest. Nya sat down next to Kai, scooting close so that she could reach over and hold Lloyd’s hand.

Lloyd’s crying cut off with a strangled gasp, but he was relaxing even more, so Kai took it as a good thing. Kai went through his list again, adding more reasons when he reached the end.

Lloyd eventually let out a shuddering breath, slumping.

“Is he alright?”

Kai jumped, glancing up at Blue. Blue winced at the same moment that Lloyd flinched violently.

“Sorry,” Kai murmured.

Black was climbing up behind Blue, who jumped when he asked, “Is he?”

“He thinks we’re supposed to hate him,” Nya said, somehow sounding both angry and sad at the same time.

Nearly identical expressions of horror formed on Blue and Black’s faces, and Lloyd flinched again. Kai glanced down at him, then looked back up at Blue and Black, using a combination of the silent language of looks that they’d developed over the last year and mouthing words to tell them how to help. They settled on the bench right below Lloyd, Blue propping up his face in his hands and Black’s eyebrows furrowing as they focused on Lloyd.

Eventually Lloyd shifted, first peeking out at Nya and then turning to look at the others. He looked like a wreck, his eyes swollen and red and longer strands of hair sticking to the tear tracks on his face, but his expression didn’t hold any pain anymore. 

“You okay?” Kai asked, adjusting his arms so that Lloyd could pull away if he wanted.

Lloyd didn’t move, and after a second he said hoarsely, “I . . . yeah. But . . . why . . . ?” 

“Because we care about you,” Blue supplied.

Lloyd stared at him. “Why?” he asked, sounding utterly confused.

Kai’s heart panged again. There were _so_ many reasons why.

“Because you’re our little brother,” Nya summed up.

For a long moment Lloyd just stared.

Then he started crying again, pressing a hand against his mouth. Kai hugged Lloyd close, going through the list again.

Eventually Lloyd calmed, and then Blue started making _terrible_ puns, and Kai got to hear Lloyd’s wonderful laughter.

Things were going to be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Comments make my day :D


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